All Students in School & Engaged! - Connecticut · Webinar: Reducing Chronic Absence in...

CONNECTICUT STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

All Students in

School & Engaged!Charlene Russell-Tucker

Chief Operating Officer

Connecticut State Department of Education

Webinar: Reducing Chronic Absence in Connecticut’s Schools

May 31, 2017

CSDE Presenters


Charlene Russell-Tucker

Chief Operating Officer

Marquelle Middleton

Associate Education

Consultant

Kari Sullivan

Education Consultant

Welcome

• Context for Webinar

• Presentation Focus

– Why Attendance Matters

– Clarifying Definitions

– Connecticut’s Chronic Absence Landscape

– Understanding Student Attendance Reporting

– What Districts Can Do to Improve Attendance

– What Schools Can Do to Improve Attendance

– Questions & Answers

– Closing Remarks and Next Steps


Debut of New

Chronic Absence Guidance


Why Attendance Matters


Absences Add Up!


Why Chronic Absence is an

Important Issue

National research documents the following negative impact:

• At every age and every stage, chronic absence erodes the academic and social skills needed to succeed in school.

• Being chronically absent has a significant impact on a student’s ability to perform at grade level, do well on standardized tests, and graduate on time.

• Children who are chronically absent in both kindergarten and first grade are much less likely to read proficiently by the end of third grade.

• By sixth grade, chronic absence is a key early indicator of dropout from high school.

• By ninth grade, attendance may be a better indicator of dropout than eighth-grade test scores.


Impact of 9th Grade Attendance on

Four-Year Graduation Rates


Clarifying Definitions


Multiple Measures of Attendance


Average Daily AttendanceMeasures the average number of students who show up on any given day.


Connecticut’s

Chronic Absence Landscape


Number of Students

Chronically Absent


60,851

56,171 55,956

50,376

2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16

Who is Chronically Absent?


18.1 17.7

15.714.9 14.5

9.6

6.45.3

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

SWD Free Lunch Hispanic EL Black Avg. Stage White Paid Lunch

Perc

ent

of

Stu

dents

SnapshotPercent Chronically Absent, 2015-16

Chronic Absence by Grade Level

2015-16


9.8

7.4

6.25.6 5.7 5.9

7.2

8.4

9.9

12.913.3

14.1

17.8


http://edsight.ct.gov/SASPortal/main.do

Understanding Student

Attendance Reporting



How does the Connecticut State Department of

Education Use These Data?

• Ad hoc data requests

• Next Generation Accountability Model

• Strategic School Profiles

• School Turnaround Office Reports & Trackers

• Chronic absenteeism data is available on our public

reporting portal EdSight; (there are immediate plans to

provide student counts for all analysis in addition to

standard percentage totals).


http://www.edsight.ct.gov/


PSIS: Appendix G

(You’ve Got Guidance)

What Is Appendix G?

• Appendix G is one of the appendices included in the PSIS User Reference Guide. This document can be found on the PSIS Public Help Site and can be downloaded and printed (recommended).

• Appendix G provides guidance on report student attendance data in PSIS.

• To improve data quality and the overall understanding of how to appropriately report student attendance data to CSDE, we’ve improved and clarified the guidance.

• We’ve vetted draft documentation through staff who represent more than 15 districts and identified CSDE consultants.


What is “In Attendance”?

• In January 2008, the Connecticut State Board of

Education adopted the following definition of student

attendance:

• A student is considered to be “in attendance” if present

at his/her assigned school, or an activity sponsored by

the school (e.g., field trip), for at least half of the regular

school day. A student who is serving an out of school

suspension or expulsion should always be

considered absent.


General Guidance for Reporting Student

Attendance in the Public School Information

System

Districts may develop attendance policies (e.g., period-by-period

attendance) that differ from State written guidance for their own

local reporting purposes.

• However, for reporting student attendance to the Connecticut

State Department of Education (CSDE), specifically PSIS (i.e.,

days of membership, days in attendance), districts must adhere

to all guidance provided in this appendix of the most recently

published Public School Information System User Reference

Guide.

• Any student who is physically attending their assigned school

building (i.e., facility 1) for at least half of the instructional school

day should be reported as “in attendance” for the purpose of

reporting membership and attendance days to the CSDE.


Handling of Early Dismissal Days

On early dismissal days and all days shortened due to

inclement weather, the instructional school day is calculated

as the total amount of instructional time provided to students

on that school day. For example, if a school is open for four

hours due to a shortened or amended school day schedule,

a student must be present for a minimum of two hours to be

reported as “in attendance.”


Full School

Day End (3:00 pm)

Shortened School Day End

(1:00 pm)

Full School Day Start(8:00 am)

Shortened School Day

Start (8:00 am)

Need Help? It’s very simple. Divide the total number of instructional hours for the given school day and divide it by 2. (e.g. a school day of 7 hours will require a child to “present’ for a t least 3.5 hours of the school day to be counted as “in attendance”.

½ Day

½ Day

Early

Dismissal

Days

• On early dismissal days and all

days shortened due to inclement

weather, the instructional school

day is calculated as the total

amount of instructional time

provided to students on that day.

– For example, if a school is open

for four hours due to a

shortened or amended school

day schedule, a student must

be present for a minimum of two

hours to be reported as “in

attendance.”


Disciplinary Absences

• Students serving an out-

of-school suspension or

expulsion are reported as

“absent” except for each

day that the student

receives an alternative

education program for at

least half of the

instructional school day.


Extended Family

Vacations/Travel• Students missing more than half of the instructional school

day for the purpose of travel or vacation are reported as

“absent.”

– The fact that a parent or guardian has authorized such

absence has no impact on the child being reported as

“absent.”

– In addition, students removed from school for extended

stays abroad are reported as “absent” even if the child was

provided with supplemental work by their home school in

an effort to minimize the child’s missed classroom

instruction.


Data Reporting:

Please Follow The Rules• Districts are strongly prohibited from seeking to use the

unenrollment of students to favorably report aggregate school-

and district-level student attendance measures (e.g., chronic

absenteeism rates).

• Due to federal reporting requirements and guidelines, the district

exit date used when unregistering a student must be the date

from an official document (e.g., transcript, appropriate signed

parent withdrawal form, IEP, etc.).

• Districts must adhere to all appropriate due process procedures

before seeking to withdraw a student from PSIS, taking into full

consideration compulsory education regulations (10-184), set

forth truancy requirements and all other necessary

documentation required.


Half-Day Kindergarten

Program Enrollment

• Students who attend a half-day kindergarten program

should be reported as “in attendance” if the student is

present for at least half of that program’s instructional

day.


Homebound Students

• Students who are homebound due to illness or injury are

reported as “absent” unless they are receiving instruction

and/or tutoring from an appropriately certified teacher for a

designated amount of time that the school or district deems

adequate, which will ensure that the student is able to

successfully return to their home school and regular school

classroom.

WARNING: If an appropriately certified teacher does not

provide the student instruction, the student must be

marked “absent.”

Medically Fragile Student

Populations

Medical Absences

• Students who are absent from school for medical

reasons (e.g., routine medical appointments, chronic

illness, hospitalization) are reported as “absent” for each

day that they are not present for at least half of the

instructional school day and not receiving instruction by

an appropriately certified teacher.


Attendance for

Outplaced Students• Students attending outplaced facilities (e.g., approved private

special education facilities, vocational facilities, etc.) must be

reported in accordance with all written guidance provided in

this appendix.


School Sponsored Activities

• Students participating in a school-sponsored activity during the

instructional school day should be reported as “in attendance.”

Appropriate examples of such school-sponsored activities

include, but are not limited to the following:

o Cooperative work experience programs

o Community service and/or service-learning programs

o Field trips

o District-sponsored activities


What Districts Can Do to

Improve Attendance


District and School

Teams

Public Act 15-225 (later codified as C.G.S. 10-198c) requires districts and schools to have district- or school-level chronic absenteeism teams if:

• District chronic absenteeism rate is 10 percent or higher it is required to have a District Attendance Team

• District has more than one school with a school chronic absenteeism rate of 15 percent or higher there should be either a District Attendance Team or School Attendance Team

• District has schools with a chronic absenteeism rate with 15 percent or higher shall have a School Attendance Team at each of these schools

CONNECTICUT STATE DEPARTMENT

OF EDUCATION

Understanding Roles and

Responsibilities at District Level

Improving and sustaining good attendance requires year-round,

active engagement of district- and school-based leaders and

administrators.

Boards of Education

• Adopt school attendance policies and procedures;

• Foster continuous improvement and accountability by

reviewing chronic absence data twice each year; and

• Include chronic absence strategies in district and school

improvement plans.


Understanding Roles and

Responsibilities at District LevelCentral Office Administration

• Responsible for ensuring chronic

absence is systematically addressed

across the district

• Promote and support a districtwide

culture of attendance

• Ensure that evidence-based

attendance policies and procedures

are in place in all schools and grade

levels

• Spearhead connections with

community providers

• Elevate the importance of this work

by designating a cabinet-level

administrator to lead and facilitate

district’s attendance efforts

Principals

• Ensure that the school adopts and

implements a comprehensive, tiered

approach to improving attendance at

all grades

• Lead and facilitate the School

Attendance Team

• Provide professional development

opportunities to build capacity for

addressing chronic absence


District Attendance Teams

District Attendance Teams bring together district-level administrators

and community agencies to address chronic absence across the entire

district.

Key Functions:

• Routinely unpack, analyze and utilize data to inform action.

• Organize a systemic districtwide response and policy/practice

improvement

• Promote shared accountability and continuous improvement

A district may form a new team for this purpose or add as an explicit

function of an existing districtwide group.


Routinely Unpack, Analyze, and

Utilize Data• Produce accurate school-specific data reports (every 10 days) that

disaggregate student attendance data by:

– School

– Grade

– Subgroups (race, ethnicity, gender, free or reduced priced meals, students with

disability and English learners.)

• Use data to develop tiered intervention strategies and monitor and

understand attendance patterns

• Geo-map chronic absence data by neighborhood and/or ZIP code

• Identify schools that need extra help as well as “bright spots” to use

an inspirational examples for others


Organize a Systemic

Districtwide Response• Positive engagement – districtwide messaging and outreach

campaign for parents, students and community providers (including

preschool provers)

• Build capacity – ensure that strategies for addressing chronic

absence are included in professional learning for administrators and

school staff

• Strategic partnerships – engage the support of the entire

community. Analyzing districtwide data provides a platform for

forming strategic community partnerships to support broad

community messaging as well as addressing common barriers to

attendance


Shared Accountability &

Continuous ImprovementDistricts should:

• Ensure that the educator evaluation and support plan prioritizes

reducing chronic absence

• Encourage and provide support for student and education support

specialists (SESS) to focus on reducing chronic absence in student

learning goals and objectives (SLOs)

• Review staff attendance patterns to ensure that adults are modeling

the behaviors expected of the students

• Set realistic and achievable target goals.

• Be prepared to “tell the story” behind the data if results are different

– positive or negative – from the goals established for the time

period.


What Schools Can Do to

Improve Attendance


Forming

School Attendance Teams

Going it alone:

• One person (school social worker, school counselor)

Takes a team:

• School administrator, school nurse, school psychologist, family engagement liaison, parents

Think creatively and outside the box:

• School secretary, school resource officer or lunch lady

• Youth Services Bureau, health centers, School Governance Council members


Functions of

School Attendance Teams

Understand and monitor attendance trends

• Use qualitative and quantitative data to understand the attendance challenges at your school

• Use trend data to identify sub-groups of students who are vulnerable

• Monitor progress

Organize the schoolwide attendance strategy

• Coordinate a multi-tiered strategy to reduce chronic absence

• Emphasize prevention, early warning and intervention

• Identify System solutions and whole school strategies

• Connect families and students to resources


Characteristics of an Effective

Attendance Teams

• Defined roles and responsibilities (facilitator, note taker, data coordinator, etc.)

• Established group norms and expectations

• Utilizes a standard agenda

• Has a set meeting time

• Shares and coordinates resources and materials

• Defined relationship with PBIS, SRBI and/or other school-based teams

www.attendanceworks.org


http://www.attendanceworks.org/

Understand and Monitor

Attendance Trends

• Principal should secure regular attendance reports from

central office

• Team should regularly review the data trends every two

weeks to understand how many and who the students are that

are chronically absent

• Team is responsible for understanding the causes for

absenteeism for individual students as well as common

causes for groups of students

• Team determines which students are chronically absent or at

risk of becoming chronically absent and determine strategic

next steps.


Contributing Factors to

Chronic Absence


Organize the Schoolwide

Attendance Strategy

Engage students and families

• Create caring connections to peers and adults,

• Create a school community that is warm and welcoming

• Educate and empower families about the importance of attending school every day

Address attendance barriers

• Identify systemic barriers to attendance

• Strengthen existing policies, practices and programs to address common barriers across student groups

Set goals and develop an attendance plan

• Build in shared accountability for reducing chronic absence

• Develop a schoolwide attendance plan including an assessment of current trend data, target goals, description of tiered intervention strategies and how success will be measured.


Coordinate a System of

Tiered Supports


50

http://www.attendanceworks.org/tools/schools/3-tiers-of-intervention/

Tier 1 Strategies

Attendance is higher when schools:

Engage students and parents

– Create a school climate that encourages students to come to school every day.

– Offer before- and after-school programs

– Create visuals that reflect attendance messaging

– Call families whey students miss school and welcome students back when they return

– Host transition meetings for new families

Recognize good and improved attendance in addition to perfect attendance

– Create friendly competing among classrooms and celebrate individual progress, recognize students and parents at special assemblies

– Engage neighborhood businesses in promoting good attendance

Remove barriers to attendance

– Conduct a safe walk to school program (walking school bus)

– Organize health interventions such as flu and dental clinic


Teachers’ Role

Teachers are an especially important and trusted resource that can make attendance a normal topic in all interactions with students and parents.

– Emphasize attendance from day one

– Greet students and families personally and ask about absences

– Engage students in tracking their own attendance

– Talk about attendance at back-to-school nights and at parent-teacher conferences

– Contact parents early. Don’t wait for parent-teacher conferences


Tier 2 Interventions

• Conduct personal outreach to families through home visits and phone calls

• Train staff on how to communicate with families

• Recruit students as attendance ambassadors

• Implement a mentoring program

• Ensure priority placement in summer and after-school programs


Tier 3 Interventions

Tier 3 Interventions are intense and individualized strategies for students who miss the most school. Typically, interagency collaboration and coordination is essential to helping students in Tier 3 overcome the serious challenges they face so they can be in school.

– Collaborate with a community organization, such as a Youth Service Bureau, to develop and implement community truancy prevention and intervention models.

– Screen students for childhood trauma and providing or connecting to effective, evidence-based treatments through www.KidsMentalHealthInfo.com.

– Implement a dropout prevention program such as Check and Connect or Success Mentors to have strong evidence of positive effects on staying in school. Adult mentors consistently check in with students in order to facilitate improved engagement in both school and the community.


http://www.kidsmentalhealthinfo.com/

Questions & Answers


Closing Remarks and

Next Steps


Thank You!


Thank you for participating in today’s webinar.

The recorded webinar will be posted within one week on the

CSDE Chronic Absence webpage.

www.ct.gov/sde/chronicabsence

If you have additional questions, please contact:

Charlene Russell-Tucker, Chief Operating Officer

[email protected]

Marquelle Middleton, Associate Education Consultant

[email protected]

Kari Sullivan, Education Consultant

E-mail: [email protected]

http://www.ct.gov/sde/chronicabsence

mailto:[email protected]



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